Three Things You Can Do! It’s Not A Done Deal

Dear CPFAN Friends and Members,
You are empowered to have an impact on your community. Let your voice be heard.
Take action that will improve the quality of life in Denver for everyone. Do not be silent.(3 items below including quick Actions that you can take now to effect change in Denver.)
_______________________________________

WHEN: WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 1, 6:00 – 7:00PM
WHERE: CITY PARK GOLF COURSE, In front of Bogey’s at the Club House, 26th & York St.

PLEASE BRING ALL OF YOUR FRIENDS AND NEIGHBORS
….AND A FLASH LIGHT OR CANDLE. Dress warm.
Join friends from CPFAN & Ditch the I-70 Ditch___________________________________________________________2. Speak Up! E MAIL DENVER CITY COUNCIL. Take just one minute and make a difference.
Copy and paste the following letter into an email with your own comments and copy and paste the list of e mail addresses of Denver City Council into the “To” section of your email. A copy will also come to CPFAN. Thank you!

(Copy and paste)
Dear Denver City Council,It is time for Denver City Council to speak up and represent the interests of their constituents.

Unfortunately, In 2010, through changes to the Denver Zoning Code, Denver City Council ceded complete control over our precious Denver parks to the Mayor, through his political appointee, the Manager of Denver Department of Parks and Recreation.

This move has proved disastrous for Denver parks including Washington Park, Hentzel Park, City Park Golf Course (CPGC), Overland Park Golf Course and potentially for future parks such as the promised Fairfax Pocket Park in Park Hill. This rampant misuse of our heritage, our parks, must stop. Please take back Denver City Council’s power to manage and defend our parks with genuine input from your constituents. Bring accountability, trasnparency and integrity back to the management of Denver parks. Change the Denver Zoning Code, now.

Denver’s open spaces and mature tree canopy must be preserved as irreplaceable infrastructure that will protect and provide for our our families and our community as global warming brings heat, drought, more extreme weather and more dirty air to Denver. Short sighted, cavalier use of this valuable land for development and outdated drains and transportation projects is counterproductive and dangerous.

Join us on Wednesday, November 1 , 6:00- 8:00 PM at City Park Golf Course, 26th & York St., for a Candle Light Vigil and Procession, to let Denver Mayor Hancock know that we oppose the destruction of CPGC and the demise of 261 heritage trees.

3. LAW SUIT IS DEFEATED BUT THERE IS HOPE IN PUBLIC OUTRAGE
EMAIL CITY COUNCIL ( See below for addresses and suggested letter)
CPFAN MEMBER AND FRIEND, MICHELE SWENSON AND BECKY ENGLISH
As many of you have heard, the law suit that was brought, pro bono, by Attorney Aaron Goldhamer, against Denver, to halt the destruction of City Park Golf Course, was defeated.

Judge David H. Goldberg(Decision here.) ruled that Denver’s plan for CPGC could be a thinly veiled support for Highway I-70 expansion, that it would be destructive to the historic course and it would not be beneficial for the neighborhoods.

But, the decision said that the Denver Zoning Code that was adopted in 2010, gave him no choice.

In 2010 the City Council voted, through the Denver Zoning Code, to give complete control of Denver Parks to the Manager of Denver Parks and Recreation, now Happy Haynes, a political appointee of Mayor Hancock. There is no process in place to review her decisions and there is, apparently, no recourse.( See CPFAN’s Press release here.).

Ex City Councilwoman, Cathy Donohue, wrote an eloquent piece explaining the downside of the proposed change, in 2009:

“Currently, the Manager of Parks only has jurisdiction over the uses of facilities in our parks—not
land use changes or initial development. This new “decider” for all development in our parks
will not be subject to anything more than letter writing or public outcry.”(Click here to read full piece.)

The Zoning Code must be changed. On Saturday, October 29th the Zoning and Planning Committee (ZAP) of Inter-Neighborhood Coopertion ( INC) passed a resolution asking the Denver City Council to take back control over Denver parks. It passed easily as the damage done by Mayor Hancock to our parks is so evident. The successful resolution was drafted by CPFAN member Nancy Francis.

ACTION: The full house of delegates of INC will vote on the resolution on Saturday, November 11, 2017, 8:30 AM, at the Willis Case Golf Course, 4999 Vrain St, Denver, CO 80212.
Come and support this important Resolution.

This resolution passed by 48 in favor, 0 opposed, and 1 abstention. See the letter to Mayor andCouncil Here

____________________________________

CPFAN is an advocate and a voice for Denver parks and for the health and safety of our community.
Let your voice be heard. We are listening.
Join CPFAN and stay connected to what’s happening in Denver.

Follow Us On Twitter

Upcoming Events

The City and County of Denver and Saunders Construction are hosting a community open house to share updates on the redesign of City Park Golf Course. There will be stations with information on the following aspects[...]

Councilman Rafael Espinoza has been vocal about his concerns about the project.
“This is a colossal misuse of hundreds of millions of dollars of taxpayer’s money that could be addressing a whole bunch of stormwater needs citywide,” Espinoza said in an interview. “While I think there is a nice and beautiful and more playable way of doing what we’re doing today, yes, I don’t object to the concept.”
That is, using the golf course for detention might be OK — just not like this.
“I do object to the way we’re using city funds and creating projects that aren’t necessary and building projects that aren’t necessary for this city, but are necessary for the interstate and confusing the two,” Espinoza said.
There are also questions as to whether the City Park Golf Course renovations will even see the light of day with multiple lawsuits against the project. Espinoza questioned how much the design process is costing the city for a project that could be halted by the court. Read more →

What does it say about our city and the value of its commitments when in one breath our mayor can pledge long term stewardship of the Denver Press Club building and in the next sacrifice City Park Golf Course to redevelopment for drainage? City Park Friends and Neighbors believe Denver can do better and we urge the Hancock Administration to meet the commitment it made to preserve and protect City Park Golf Course. Read more →